Sleepy Hollow: The Golem Recap

Sleepy Hollow: The Golem (1×10)

Synopsis: On a quest for more information about his son, Ichabod and Abbie bring back and old friend and unleash a new threat.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Still reeling from the reveals of last week, Ichabod is not feeling very Christmas-y. Abbie is there to sympathize with him and to help him find some answers about Katrina and his son. Seeking the reason that Moloch went after his son, they call Henry Parrish, the Sin Eater, to help them get in touch with Katrina. While Parrish denies his ability to do anything more than read and remove sins, Ichabod reminds him that he brought Arthur Bernard to speak to him and convinces Parrish to try. He agrees to make an attempt to reach Katrina in Purgatory, but warns that Crane’s life will be in danger.

Ichabod eagerly accepts, and though Henry isn’t convinced that he knows the risks, he instructs Abbie that she is not to interfere as he has Ichabod summon his wife with all of his heart before strangling him closer to death. It works and Ichabod finds an empty bassinet, but for a doll, and Katrina lighting a candle. She warns him about Moloch and tells him she would have told him about their son if she’d known at the time. He was named Jeremy, after Crane’s grandfather, and she’d birthed him at Fredericks Manor because she knew he would be safe there from her coven. The doll Ichabod found was the doll she gave to their son before giving him to Grace and Joseph at Trinity Church.

She tells him that the Four Who Speak as One put her in Purgatory and he promises to find out what happened to their son and free her, so that she can be reunited with him. As he releases his will to be there and returns to Parrish and Abbie, he explains that Grace took his son and there’s a shot of something coming out of the ground in the forest. He also realizes that if Jeremy married and had three children, there could be as many as 6,000 descendants of Ichabod’s running around.

The Sin Eater is back and reluctantly lending his assistance to Abbie and Ichabod!

With his job done, Henry Parrish wants to leave for his train, but Ichabod and Abbie stop him and ask for more assistance from him. With some prodding, they get him to agree to a later train and they get in the car together. Arriving at the library, Crane charms the records girl into pointing out where the possible records might be that they are searching for. Henry finds the papers that show that Grace Dixon died in a fire and that the townspeople were scared of Jeremy – who had inherited his mother’s powers. When he cried, he started fires and remained unhurt, leading people to believe he was a monster. He was sent to a home and Ichabod is upset that he was not there to help his son adjust. The woman who had helped them was lying about not knowing any information and she is crushed inside her car by the monster stalking Ichabod, Abbie, and Henry.

Captain Irving visits a church and asks about what happens to the people who follow the Two Witnesses and is told they usually die, just as the Two Witnesses are destined to die like martyrs. He laments his circumstances in life – his daughter being hit by a car, his wife leaving him because he worked too much – and God’s plan for him before storming out of the church. He goes on to pick up Macey, apologizing to Cynthia for making things hard on her.

This was unfortunate and surprising enough that it had me scratching my head for a bit.

After collecting the librarian’s things from her office, Abbie and Ichabod begin going through her stuff and one box in particular draws Henry’s attention. They realize that she must have recognized Crane because the box has a Sisterhood of the Radiant Heart mark on it. When they open the box, Henry can feel the anger, pain, and death on the book that shows the same doll that Katrina gave to Jeremy. They realize that the pain and misery from the box is the result of Ichabod’s son.

At the orphanage where he was sent, the priest who governed it hit Jeremy to purge him of his sins. One drop of blood from his nose, combined with his powers, awakened the doll, which killed the priest and continued to protect Jeremy throughout his life. All of Jeremy’s rage and grief went into the doll and they realize that the doll may be the cause of the violence they’re seeing right now. It may have followed Crane back from Purgatory and killed the librarian because she was in the coven that broke apart Ichabod’s family.

Elsewhere, Macey is explaining Vine to Irving and tries to reassure him that, despite her current physical challenges, they’re going to be fine. However, when he goes to get them hot chocolate, a demon possesses the man and asks Irving how strong his daughter is. Surprised, Irving attacks the man, only to have the demon jump into a lady nearby and continue to taunt him. It’s unnerving.

Crane continues to be troubled by the way his son was brought up, without a family. When Henry tries to reassure him by telling him that he was molded from Crane’s clay, they realize that the doll may be a golem. Carnival ticket stubs from the last 100 years that Abbie finds in the librarian’s possessions lead them to the Four Who Speak as One – most likely the golem’s next target.

The Golem that Jeremy created from his doll to be his champion.

While Abbie isn’t happy to let Crane speak to the women alone, she relents to his request and he enters their tent alone. They quickly realize they are speaking to Ichabod Crane and that his arrival seals their fate – death. He demands they release Katrina for their safety, but they decline because it is their destiny to die. They tell him he is repeating his wife’s mistakes and reveal that Jeremy was offered help and a place in the coven. He denied it and them, leaving them no choice but to trap the creature in Purgatory. They hexed him and stopped his heart before burying him, leading Crane to believe they murdered his son. Before they tell him to run, they tell him only his son’s blood can stop the golem.

He leaves the tent, leaving them to their fate, and reunites with Abbie and Henry so that they can find a way to stop the golem. Ichabod is hurt by shards of mirror, but Henry realizes that his blood is his son’s blood and that Ichabod can stop the golem. Crane makes peace with how Jeremy was brought up, accepting he couldn’t have done anything to stop it, and stabs the golem with the mirror shard, only to hold its hand as it goes.

In the end, Henry Parrish catches a train and admits that Crane was right about him being called to help them on their mission. Abbie gives Ichabod a stocking to try to cheer him up, but he’s only confused by the tradition. When she leaves to get food, Ichabod sees a crack in the window reform and finds himself in Purgatory. Moloch is there, telling him that his death is assured and that Ichabod will give Abbie’s soul over to him. He comes back to the office and tells Abbie what he just learned.